Donating cord blood

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How can I donate cord blood?

More than 800,000 cord blood units are available worldwide to be used for any patient in need. You can check the exact number of cords available in the WMDA database here.
Since 1997, a total of 59,108 cord blood products have been shipped globally (see the summary slide here). Unfortunately, not every patient can find a matched voluntary donor in the global database, in which case, using cord blood might prove the best, or even the only alternative. Therefore, cord blood banks worldwide are calling on pregnant women to donate the umbilical cord, containing the cord blood, after the birth of their child. Special cord blood banks have been set up around the world to collect and store umbilical cord blood.

Donate to a public cord blood bank:

when you donate to a public cord blood bank, your baby’s cord blood is available to any patient who needs a transplant and is not reserved for your family. Unfortunately, not every country has a cord blood bank. You can see if your country has one by looking up your country in our list with organisations here.

Talk to your doctor or midwife about whether you can donate cord blood. They will tell you whether they are trained to perform cord blood collections and if they have a contract with a public cord blood bank. Both mother and baby must be healthy in order to donate cord blood.

Store in a family (private) cord blood bank:

these banks store cord blood exclusively for use by the family. There is a fee for collection as well as annual storage fees.

Save for a sibling with a medical need:

if a biological sibling has a disease that may be treated with a cord blood transplantation, parents can choose to save their baby’s cord blood for the sibling. A transplant physician can help with finding a cord blood bank that collects and stores blood for this specific purpose.

More cord blood information

Cord blood: the basics Donating cord blood Quality Banking models Risks of cord blood donation